Since 2009, at least 85 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze to protest what they say is Beijing's repression of their culture and religion. Nearly a third (23) of those self-immolations occurred in the past month, as China prepared for its 10-yearly power handover.
Talking about the second phase of self immolation in Tibet: "But now in this phase we have laypeople staging these immolations in ways that are much more determined in an attempt to get a response from Chinese authorities, by having immolations in clusters, very close together, many on the same day or within a few days and many in the same place"
-Robert Barnett of New York's Columbia University
"We've got the provinces that sort of surround the Tibetan autonomous region all having self-immolations in the last couple months, as well as the diversity of the people involved, in terms of age ranges, in terms of occupations. Both laypeople and monks and nuns [are] involved in these self-immolations. Without a doubt, it's really reaching a crisis point,"
-James Leibold, a Tibet analyst for Australia's Latrobe University in Beijing
He also talks about Xi Jinping : "Sadly, we hear the same rhetoric coming out of Beijing, and Chinese officials continually blaming a few black hands for collaborating with the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan community to stir up trouble and to damage China's ethnic unity and harmony. There's just absolutely no will, it seems, to admit a failure of policy"
adapted from VOA
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